From the Shadows
This is entry in the Breakout contest. It takes place during the events of the Breakout episodes. Chapter 1 The hero walked down the street, whistling to himself as he went. He was happy. As one of the only Heroes not assigned a villian, he had been given shore leave to get him out of Zib's way. This arrangement was fine with the Hero, as he wasn't really the mission type. Turning down an alley, the hero glanced behind himself and saw a movment in the shadows. He looked again, but saw nothing. He shrugged, and continued to walk down the alley. Behind him, a figure stepped out off the shadows. He aimed his Plasma Blaster and fired. The Hero cruppled to the ground. The figure ran to the body, and rolled the Hero on his back. He reached roward and cut into his victim's chest, sending circuts and gears flying. After lifting his objective from the body, he carved a message into the Heroe's armor. "I am back, and Hero Factory shall fall" Chapter 2 Thresher marched into Hero Factory lockup, bringing an angry XPlode with him. "Hey," He said. "I've got a villian in need of a cell over here." A securtiy bot hovered over and took custody of the criminal. Thresher stay in the room until the villian was placed in his cell. Then he turned and left. Walking towards Mission Control, Thresher was met by a frantic Zib. "What is it?" He asked. "One of the Heroes on shore leave has been killed," answered Zib. "How? Why?" "I'll explain in here." Zib led Thresher through a door. Inside, a team of scientists were huddled around a table. Zib waved them off, and Thresher saw what was on the table. A body of a Hero was laying on the table. It was in bad shape. It's back was badly burned and disintegrated in some places. What remained of the chest armor was torn and ripped. But what was most stunning was the core. It was gone. In its place was a message. "I am back, and Hero Factory shall fall" "Thats... not good," said Thresher. "I presume you reached the same conclusion as we did?" said Zib. Thresher nodded. "Core Hunter." Chapter 3 Inside mission control, three Heroes stood in front of the briefing screen. Zib walked out, and began to speak. "There is a serial killer lose in Makuhero City. He must be stopped at all costs. To complete this task, I have chosen you three to form a strike force. Your mission is to capture Core Hunter. Now, as senior Hero, Thresher will lead the team. Flash and Swift, you two will follow his orders. Everyone understand?" "Understood," said the three Heroes in unison. "Dissmissed." ---- The Team walked slowly through the alley. Every move they made was cautious. "Alright," said Thresher. "This is where the body was found. Be on the lookout." The Heroes continued to walk, past the site of the murder and into the street. It was busy now that the sun was up, and civilians walked up and down the street, oblivious to everything but themselves . "We should split up," sugested Swift. "We could cover more ground that way." "And be picked off one-by-one?" responded Thresher harshly. "I don't think so." Swift looked at his feet, defeated. Thresher turned and made a left and walked down the street. Flash followed him. Neither of the Heroes looked backto see Swift turn in the opposite direction and walk away. Chapter 4 Thresher and Flash walked down the street. They had seen no sign of Core Hunter, and they had allowed themselves to relax. As they walked pass a Fast-Food Restaurant, Flash sugested they give a report to Hero Factory. "Thresher to Zib, come in Zib," Thresher said into his communicator. There was no reply. Thresher tried again, but he heard nothing but static. "Thats odd," commented Thresher. "Zib normally answers on the first call." "Somthing's wrong," Flash agreed. "Lets go get Swift and we'll head back." Flash turned. "Swift, it's time t-" Thresher spun as he heard Flash gasp in suprise. "What is it?" he asked. "It's Swift," she replied. "He's gone!" ---- Swift slipped into the factory, or what remained of it. He shined his light around the deserted hallway. The place was a mess. Walls had caved in, windows an broken, and cobwebs filled the rafters. His friend in the Black Market had told him that Core Hunter liked to hang around this dump. He has a bad taste in hideouts, thought Swift. Continuing down the hall, Swift debated if this was a smart thing to do. "Should I have stayed with the others?" he though aloud. "Yes, you shoud have." Swift spun in the direction of the voice, but a powerful blast knocked him off his feet. He hit the ground with a thud. "Though you could tackle me on your own, did you?" Core Hunter asked. Swift struggled to get to his feet, but his legs wouldn't move. He suspected he had broke some conection in his back. Core Hunter pointed his Plasma Blaster at the Hero's head. "I could kill you right now," he said. "But where's the fun in that? He fired, aiming just to the right of Swift's head. The Plasma tore through the Hero's armor, and part of his face disintigrated into ashes. Swift screamed in pain, only to be cut short by another blast ripping his arm off. "Ah, music to my ears," chucled Core Hunter. "I love my job." He thrust his claw forward implaing Swift on it. "The beauty of killing you here is that no one will hear you scream." Chapter 5 Thresher and Flash frantically pushed through the crowd, yelling Swift's name and recieving a multitude of angry glances. They eventually reached the place where they had turned onto the road, and ran into the alley. It was empty. "I was afraid of this," muttered Thresher. "Swift is to impulsive, he probably ran in the other direction." "So, do we follow him?" asked Flash. "No," responded Thresher. "We return to Hero Factory and get backup." They walked back to the street and began the return to their shuttle. As the walked, Thresher saw an image in the corner of his eye. "Well, there goes that plan," he said. Flash looked at him questioningly. "Look," he said. On a TV screen to their right was an image of Hero Factory, only something was different. The Fail-Safe Shield was up. Flash swore, an act that got her a disapproving look from Thresher. "Looks like we're on our own," she said. ---- The two Heroes traced Swift to a Black Market dealer. "Yeah, he came by here a few hours ago," said the dealer. "He asked if I knew where Core Hunter liked to hang out." "And where might that be, V'alit?" asked Thresher. "Over at the ol' factory in the downtown district," V'alit replied. "It's just a few miles north of here." Thresher dropped a coin into V'alit's hand. "Thanks," he said. Fearing the worst, Thresher and Flash headed to the factory. When they arrived, they foun the main hall deserted. They proceeded to walk down the hall. Reaching the doors, Flash decided to take a peek inside one. Her gasp of horror caused Thresher to run over. "What is it?" he asked. Flash pushed the door open, and Thresher saw what had startled her. In the middle of the room hung a body. Missing half of it's head and an arm, it was a gruesome site. But the worst of it all was the torso. The armor that had once covered it was practically non-existent, with a few scraps of metal attached here and there. What remained of the torso itself was shredded and torn. Then Thresher recognized the body. Swift's death had been pointless and painful. He had gone through something that no Hero should ever have to go through. Thresher dropped to his knees, shocked. He had heard of Core Hunter's brutality, but this was far worse than what he had been told. Then he saw the message on the wall. "Lookout below!!" Chapter 6 Thresher dove into Flash, knocking her out of the way of a massive metal container. He aimed his shooter and fired. From up above, he heard a deep, horrid laugh, confirming that he had missed. Core Hunter dropped from the roof, shooting at the Heroes the entire time. Flash recovered and drew her gun, managing to fire a few rounds before her weapon disintegrated in her hands. She dove for cover. Meanwhile, Thresher was engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat with Core Hunter. After trying (and failing) to make contact with Core Hunter's body, Thresher dropped back to a defensive stance. Shooting at Core Hunter while dodging claw strikes and Plasma blasts kept him from helping Flash. However, Flash didn't need help, and was charging Core Hunter with a wickedly sharp-looking shard of metal. Her attack was blocked, and she was forced back into a corner. Just as Core Hunter was about to blast her head off, Flash grabbed his blaster and began shooting at Core Hunter. Surprised, the villain stood stunned, but only for a moment. In a flash, he struck at his assailant, slicing her hand from her wrist. Flash crumpled to the ground, holding the stub of her hand and screaming in agony. Core Hunter laughed, and pointed his Blaster at the fallen Hero. Then, to the surprise of Thresher, he tossed his gun aside. "Why grant you a quick death when you gave caused me so much trouble?" he said, and he drove his claw into her stomach. Flash screamed again, earning her another stab, this time in the chest. Thresher pulled himself to his feet. He slowly walked to where Core Hunter's blaster lay on the floor. He picked it up. "CORE HUNTER!" he yelled. "LET HER GO!" The villain turned, and gave Thresher an amused glance. "Really?" he asked. "Why should I?" "Because I'll shoot you if you don't," Thresher responded. "Fine," Core Hunter replied, and he stood with his chest exposed. "Shoot me." With a crazed yell, Thresher pulled the trigger. A blast of Plasma flew at Core Hunter, who pivoted out of the way. "Nice try," he said, and stabbed Flash through the head. "I will kill you," Thresher vowed. "And I'll do it now. You can't shoot me, so you'll be dead before you can reach me." "Oh really," chuckled Core Hunter. "The thing is, I always carry a backup." He reached back, and pulled another Blaster from his pack. "Goodbye, Hero." Thresher fell to the ground, and everything went black. Epilogue Thresher awoke in Hero Factory, lying on a bed. He attempted to sit up. "Whoa, there," said a voice. "You can't stress yourself." "Stormer?" Thresher asked. "Is that you?" "Yes, it's me," said Stormer. "Now lay back down." "Wait," said Thresher. "What about Flash?" Stormer hung his head. "She...she didn't make it." Thresher fell back onto the bed. "And Core Hunter?" "He escaped before we arrived," answered Stormer. "Bulk is going after him." As Thresher began to drift out of consciousness, he had one more question. "Stormer, what happened here? Why was the Fail-Safe Shield up?" Stormer reclined in his chair. "That, my friend, is a long story..." THE END Characters *Core Hunter *Kirk Thresher *Sandra Flash *Fred Swift *Professor Nathaniel Zib *Preston Stormer *V'alit *XPlode *Unamed Hero in Chapter 1 FAQ This is to answer questions posted in reviews, so I don't have to leave them on everyone's talk pages. Q: Why was the Fail-Safe shield up? A: Because Black Phantom turned it on. It's in the Breakout episodes. Q: Why did Preston Stormer appear at the end? A: Stormer was a rookie serving Thresher on the New Stellac City Mission. Therefore, he would probably vist his old leader in the infirmary. Reviews I think this is a well-constructed story. In fact, the beginning I found quite nice. Even though you used a random hero, it still tied in with the rest of the story. However, you have a few plot holes. Who is the random black market dealer? What is Stormer doing at the end? And you never elaborated on the Fail-Safe Shield. Lastly, this is NOT graphic. Sorry, but I actually specialize in gore, and this does not cut it. Mistakes, minimal. Characters, good choice and number. Overall, I'd give this a Same up there, I agree..... Overall, this is a "(Z->)90° - (E-N²W)90°t=1 15:31, August 5, 2012 (UTC) -Ngo/Drayko From what I thought, I understood what you did at the end there with Stormer and the fail-safe shield. The way you portrayed Core Hunter as vile and unforgiving was in my opinion well done. I'm not sure if i'm thinking correctly now, but the way the other heroes were killed off did seem a bit rushed (yeah, i know it had to be limited) as each of them were sort of toys to the villain. I'd say this is an [[User:OonieCacola|'Oonie']] [[User talk:OonieCacola|is coming to HF]]... 23:00, August 5, 2012 (UTC) Category:Stories